December 22, 2003

December 22, 2003

The wars that have most deeply scarred recent history have not been wars between national states. Internal conflicts killed far more people during the 20th century than international ones like the First and Second World Wars. In a deadly dynamic, government and government-allied forces have wiped ou

Although more than 25 years have passed, the joy I felt at Christmas in Calcutta remains more vivid than any other memory of this season. I was ending what Jesuits call the long experiment of tertianship, that third year of novitiate tacked on to the end of our training. My days had been spent offer

During the countdown early this year to the war in Iraq, Pope John Paul II and his Vatican aides wasted no opportunity to broadcast their opposition to a U.S.-led invasion. They warned that besides being unjust, an invasion would be counterproductiveit would leave many dead and wounded, destroy Iraq

Rockefeller Center—there it is, only six blocks south of America House. I often pass through it just to savor the plaza’s open space, carved out oasis-like from the surrounding tall buildings in congested New York City. The sunken section of the plaza is transformed into a skating rink a

As we retell the Bethlehem story each year, its familiarity can obscure one of its most important lessons. We do not celebrate at Christmas some timeless truth or immutable dogma but a particular moment. “A decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was

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